Thursday, September 17, 2009

The constitution of language

Everyones doing it!
What governs the creation or evolution of a language? For the 19 years i've been alive there has been several words created, some useful and some failing in their tracks. Though all of them were a condensation of the word or words that were originally used to complete a sentance.

  • -werd = I agree
  • -ain't = is not or isn't <--- (already condensed, so WHY does it need to be tampered with any firther?)
  • stack or grand = 1 thousand dollars
    The English language has embraced and denied trends and dialects that have eventually turned it into the mixed language that it is today.
There is no English as a whole anymore, theres only the remnants and fragments of our recent generations tearing it into peices and making new branches of it. How things should sound, or how long a sentance should be before the listener dismisses their sense of hearing is what we now base our guidlines of speech and writing.

These branches consist now of (in my own words and expiriences):
  • Regularly spoken American English - no slang, no dialect and no accent.
  • British English - the kind that has a cheerful tone, the british accent, and those deveous words that require the common vocabulary lacking American to later summon a dictionary to understand what was said to him/her
  • Slang English - The street english spoken by blacks and whites completely disregarding a word, pronouncing only half of it, and hoping that the listener understands. (god forbid that they don't, it would be counter-productive to repeat yourself with language skills THIS lazy)
  • Southern english - Similar to the slang english in regards to lazy sentance structure and word usage, but with a few defined differences and formulated words (such as saying that there truck) and then adding the formulated word (that there truck, over yonder)
And these are only a few

The variety of vocabulary and sentance structure is now governed by how much strenuous activity the speaker wants their tounge and throat to endure, rather then having a flowing variety of words and phrases construed into the partisipant of the conversation.

The popular Law it seems for the creation of a language seems to be the area you live in and its usage.
If you live in the south, your more apt to having the southern branch of english.
If you live in the ghetto, slang is more then likely your branch
and all inbetween have their own.

Though ive noticed that everywhere i go, there are people that speak that regular english i posted about earlier. There are people everywhere that speak like that. and in no other social area that possesses their own language have i noticed the same pattern.

1 comment:

  1. Holy freaking crap guys. We've got 4 days before this next paper is dead-lined and we've got a whole three unedited stories in our issue #2 folder. We NEED to meet before Thursday and do some major brain-storming + Story-writing if we don't want an F in our entire Comm 1 Honors class. Now I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather not have an F. I apologize for not taking the initiative earlier. If I don't have any responses by Monday Night I'm going to contact Sarah and we'll get together with an email letting you all know when and where so you can show up if you want. If everyone could please please Please go and get some stories before then that'd be fabulous.
    Yours in procrastinating,
    Ian Novak (contact me with the bccpinkpaper e-mail)

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